Category: Business Management

The job of pastry bakers is no longer limited to turning raw ingredients into baked treats. Instead it extends to quantity bakery production, labour cost controls, purchasing for commercial kitchen, menu planning, practices of nutrition, and human resource planning.

Traditionally, pastry bakers were expected to just bake pastries, cookies, breads, cakes and chocolates. However, times have changed. Now, the industry offers them more legitimate career options in the areas of supply management, hospitality management, human resource planning, and sanitation, hygiene and safety, marketing of baked goods, and kitchen management.

The professionals are now required to have excellent baking skills combined with strong business acumen. They should be able to work in state-of-the-art kitchens, while using the latest equipments and ensuring their smooth transition into the workforce. They are not only required to bake cakes and pastries, but are also expected to innovate and bring a new product or concept to the market.

Baking Arts Management Programs

Prospective pastry bakers in Canada are required to go through a formal and intensive training in baking arts management before entering the world of work. In fact, this is considered as the basic requirement to pursue an entry level job in the industry.

Previously pastry bakers were trained on-the-job and paid decently after several years of hard work. However, nowadays, structured post-secondary educational programs are available in Canada with the colleges of repute.

Bakery arts management programs are designed to provide students with the skills to effectively manage commercial bakery outlets. They learn to expand their knowledge of baking and produce commercial quantities of breads, muffins, cakes, pastries, pies, rolls, sweet dough and savoury. They also learn to mange product costs, labour costs, purchase and storage of materials, product marketing, hiring and managing personnel.

Program Details

Centennial College’s baking program runs for two years and offers a unique blend of classroom learning, hands-on baking lab and an individualized internship with industry partners. The program focuses on helping students develop pastry baking arts and business management skills.

The post-secondary program in baking arts covers a wide range of subjects including

– Baking and pastry arts theory and practical
– Hospitality accounting
– Sanitation, safety and hygiene
– Quantity bakery production
– Principles of food, beverage and labour cost controls
– Principles of hospitality management
– Purchasing for commercial kitchen
– Human resources management
– Marketing strategies
– Principles and practices of nutrition for culinarians
– Supervisory practices for Kitchen Manager

In addition, the program lays a strong emphasis on professional communication, report writing, mathematics for bakers, and knowledge in computers.

Benefits of Baking Programs

The graduates of baking arts programs are capable of

– Working on the latest baking equipments
– Producing baking goods in large quantities
– Managing commercial bakery outlets
– Managing materials purchase and storage
– Marketing baked products effectively
– Hiring and managing personnel at a commercial bakery
– Ensuring sanitation, safety and hygiene

They can find employment with hotels, restaurants, retail pastry outlets, bistros, resorts, camps, department stores, supermarkets, and other related businesses. The graduates can also start their own pastry establishment.

Students looking for better job prospects can also consider studying further by enrolling into advanced bakery arts program with associated universities.

Everyday, thousands of patients and their families are faced with the challenge of arranging non emergency medical transportation for their loved ones. The federal and state government recognizes the importance of meeting the transportation needs of medically frail patients who do not require emergency medical transportation. The United States Congress enacted Section 6083 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 to allow the introduction of Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (“NEMT”) brokerage systems for Medicaid recipients at the state level.

Non-emergency medical transportation involves getting a patient to and from the source of
medical care when the medical condition is not life threatening. This includes non-emergency
ambulance, medi-car, taxicab, service car, livery or private automobile. The Non-Emergency Medical Transport (NEMT) business service is a growing Industry as the need for this specialized service continues to grow. Many existing companies and new businesses are venturing into the NEMT business as an additional source of revenue or as a stand alone profitable business. However, the start up process for Non emergency Medical Transportation business is moderately difficult. Recent study published in a business journal in 2009 indicates 69% of businesses that venture into the NEMT business abandon the start up process. This is due to lack of correct information or unavailability of information to help with the start up process.
There is more to non emergency transportation management than getting from one location to the next. The NEMT business is heavily impacted by laws and regulations that are specific to states, counties or municipalities. Businesses that start an NEMT business with an informative and detailed start up guide have a higher chance making it past the start up phase.
NEMT services are a good business by all accounts. This is a service that is needed. The elderly, disabled people including veterans, people with chronic medical conditions that require frequent medical appointments rely heavily on NEMT businesses to get their medical needs met.
The recent economic hardships have resulted in lower revenues for taxi and limousine and other companies. An NEMT business provides a solid and steady base of revenue for these businesses. However the success of any NEMT business is highly dependent on the establishing effective policies and procedures, education and training programs for staff, quality improvement programs and practices and most important an effective marketing strategy.The Non Emergency Medical Transportation start-up guide by Precision Management provides direct and detailed answers to the daunting questions that confront businesses during the start up process. The start up guides goes further to address policies and procedures requirements, success proven marketing strategies, risk management. Ultimately, the goal of the guide is to help NEMT businesses achieve a higher customer satisfaction and the success of new businesses in the NEMT service industry.

Best Practices for Structuring Your VMO

Vendor Management Is Key To Realizing Your Sourcing Business Case – Why Leave It To Chance

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In early 2008 Alsbridge initiated a study working with its customers who had executed outsourcing deals to determine what makes the critical difference between realizing the projected ROI and coming up short. We discovered that early introduction of a Vendor Management Office (VMO) combined with critical change management and communications initiatives are keys to ROI (Return on Investment) realization. Without disciplined VMO leadership the dreaded shadow IT organization emerges attacking the business case and limiting the vendors ability to do what they do best, leverage capacity.

CIOs NEED AN EFFECTIVE VMO TO ACHIEVE THE PROMISED COST BENEFIT
The business case for outsourcing is the focal point of any strategic outsourcing initiative. Senior management most likely reviewed the cost benefit analysis and approved the initiative based on achieving an ROI with some limited risk. Now that the vendor has been selected and the contract has been signed senior management expects delivery on the numbers. This is where the real work of extracting the value from the organization and from the vendor begins. This is the work of the VMO.

Although having a VMO is a best practice more than two thirds dont have a VMO.

Of those who do have a VMO, most do not believe they have the right competencies and skills to operate the VMO effectively.

Worse still, the demand for VMO management skills are increasing as outsourcing initiatives flounder without good internal transition and vendor relationship management capabilities. Without good governance, the relationship becomes dysfunctional early on resulting in poor hand-offs between the client and the vendor making it impossible for the vendor to drive value for the customer. This means erosion of the cost benefit business case and weaker IT performance.

For example one client told us:

We did not institute our VMO soon enough and we wondered about for nearly 18 months before senior management demanded we either fix our vendor management problems, get them their ROI as promised or terminate the deal. We could have avoided the emergence of a shadow IT organization that attacked the deal from the inside. (Director of IT Outsourcing Initiative, Large Automotive Supplier)

Similarly, another client gave us the following background on the institution of the companys VMO:

We must have a strategic relationship with our vendors or why else engage them. This is enough justification for forming a VMO. We knew transition was complex and we knew that we would have to address vendor problems if we were to realize our business case. We were not about to try to explain to our senior leadership why we are not getting the full benefits outsourcing. (CIO, Large Insurance Company)

THE ATTACK OF THE SHADOW IT ORGANIZATION

We found most companies recognize the need to establish their VMO early but they are struggling with competing demands for people who cannot be freed up early enough to focus on transition and governance issues. As transition begins, communications with business leaders falter, retained staff struggle to understand the new service delivery model and to adapt to new business processes. Business leaders can become confused as old processes are replaced with new ones and familiar IT buddies are replaced with unfamiliar vendor personnel who are focused on driving process discipline and achieving operating efficiency. Without strong central leadership driving communications from the onset, it is not long before IT staff begin reacting to the demands of their business customers.

One client told us that:

within six months of the completion of transition we had a shadow IT organization taking back some of the functions that had been outsourced to our vendor. Our retained organization, just did not understand how to get the job done using vendor resources. So with good rationale, our people implemented their own processes that did not include the vendor. Had we implemented a good VMO, we could have avoided this attack from the inside.
–IT Director, Insurance Organization

THE KEY FUNCTIONS OF A HIGH PERFORMANCE VMO

Successful VMOs have an organizational framework that can orchestrate constituencies to the outsourcing deal throughout the sourcing life cycle. The VMO must also be able to adapt; changing its functional focus as the deal transverses the multiple phases of outsourcing from strategy development through contracting to transition and stabilization to contract renewal. The VMOs primary role is to manage the relationship for optimum value realization from beginning to end. Within this primary function are four distinct VMO functions.

The chart below provides a view of what a VMO organization framework might look like and the four distinct functions of the VMO as a relationship management function.

While this model provides a view of a complete VMO, in reality, the right VMO structure is a hybrid a variation that fits within the organizations business environment, cultural norms, investment profile, outsourcing deal type, and relationship management readiness. For example an existing VMO might include Centers of Excellence (COE) that perform many of the activities associated with contract and service level management, while another COE performs financial and demand management activities.

Service Level Management
Among the strategic imperatives for creating the VMO is long-term performance improvement. Hence, service level management goes beyond making sure that SLAs are measured, monitored and reported. The VMO must exert pressure on both the client and vendor organizations to improve processes for increased consistency and reduced costs. More process discipline is required as the relationship matures and it bridges the gap between pre- and post contract activities.
Contract Management
Once the contract is signed the work of making the contract work takes center stage. The focus must move away from terms and conditions and move quickly to the practical application of the contract in the daily operation of the IT business. The VMO executive must manage the chasm between what is in the contract and what must get done each and every day.
Financial Management
The VMO actively works with the program management office (PMO) to coordinate the delivery and capabilities of multiple vendors, not only sourcing providers but also software, hardware and other technology suppliers. This involves intellectual property management, invoice/payment management and audits, discretionary pool /ARC/RRC management, and service audits. Senior executives are most interested in the financial results of the sourcing initiative, therefore, the VMO must include individuals with the business savvy to provide regular financial performance updates that spell out performance against the original business case.
Demand Management
The ability of the VMO to balance the wants and needs of the business and to forecast demand is critical to the vendors ability to complete annual service planning and to be ready and able to meet service requirements. An effective VMO can eliminate the emergence of IT shadow organizations by creating a central office for gathering, organizing, prioritizing and validating business requests. The VMO should become the unified front of the organization when managing the interface between the organization and its vendors. This unified front is the key to ensuring the client is directing the relationship not its vendors.

BUILDING AND EFFECTIVE VMO

The VMO can be viewed as bureaucratic overhead or as the Business Case Enabler. The difference is in how the VMO is established, its charter and the friendliness of its processes in supporting multiple organizational and IT operating goals. There are five critical factors to consider when building a VMO:

1) Select a VMO leader with the right competencies and skills. The VMO leader must be armed with the ability to coordinate and communicate across many constituencies on both the client and the vendor sides. This means navigating through both the written and unwritten rules of engagement.

2) Engage the business in the design of the VMO organization and management processes. Acceptance of the VMO increases when stakeholders help architect the processes and understand how to leverage the VMO to get things done. The VMO should be flexible while insisting on principles of standardization and adoption of proven best practices. Standardization is an imperative if the organization is going to truly leverage the value its vendors are capable of providing.

3) The VMO should report to a centralized CIO. In a global sourcing deal, it is likely that multiple regional business units are coming together under a single sourcing contract. To achieve standardization across the enterprise the VMO should operate under the sponsorship of a global CIO.
Position the VMO as a COE. Over time the VMO will develop expertise across a wide range of vendor management and project planning initiatives. This is valuable organizational intellectual property. The COE should provide coaching, advisory services for business customers and retained operations to reduce bureaucracy.

4) Promote the VMO. At its inception, the VMO will appear to be more overhead. The VMO must quickly demonstrate its value to the organization by addressing many common problems facing any organization entering into a sourcing relationship. Select three risks that everyone agrees must be mitigated as the organization enters into the sourcing relationship. Set out a plan, provide the VMO with executive sponsors and a charter with teeth. Deliver something that brings value to the business from the onset.
If you are considering entering into a sourcing relationship or if you are currently engaged in outsourcing, look around, does your organization have shadow operations lurking in the IT function. If so, a working VMO can be the best defense against attacks from within that diminish the value opportunity of outsourcing. Dont be caught without a good VMO.

If you are considering entering into a sourcing relationship or if you are currently engaged in outsourcing, look around, does your organization have shadow operations lurking in the IT function. If so, a working VMO can be the best defense against attacks from within that diminish the value opportunity of outsourcing. Dont be caught without a good VMO.

Movement is life. This principle is true for business as well. Every business must develop otherwise it will fail sooner or later. Loss of competitive advantage results in loss of customers. There is a tough competition in all markets, and customers of free to choose any products they like. If a customer is not buying from you it will most certainly buy from your competitor. This is true for all businesses, including hotel business. This industry is highly competitive as there are hundreds of hotels in every country. When high season comes hotel top managers do everything possible to attract customers and make them stay in their hotels. Of course, they do not only promise high quality services but the actually offer them. Hotel is not just a place where you spend the night. Some people want to feel at home in a hotel. This is possible in case you come to a top quality hotel.

In order to improve hotel services owners and managers of our hotel need to know where to start from. In other words they have to be aware of current performance in order to make plans for the future. Until recently performance evaluation was about measurement of financial indicators for the past periods. Such approach is not perfect since it misses nonfinancial indicators that are extremely important in any industry. It is not enough just to announce implementation of new plans and improvements in hotel. A real work begins when these improvements are implemented and measured.

For example, if a new service, say, WiFi connection in all rooms is introduced the hotel spends a certain amount of money to buy equipment and maintain network. Then, the quality of Wireless Network has to be evaluated. However, what is more important is the attitude of customers towards this new service and the way they use it. If it turns out that only 10% of hotel guests actually use wireless network and only half of them really require high speed Internet there is probably no point in spending huge money for super speedy Internet. If most of hotel guests are business people for whom high speed Internet is necessity than well established wireless connection is a must.

If improvements concern reception service top management of a hotel needs to understand who their guests are and why they come to their hotel. If most of them are tourists than it would be reasonable to introduce new services like offering information on sightseeing tours, contact details of various Entertainment Services, taxi phone numbers etc. As time passes by, efficiency of these improvements needs to be tested in order to introduce amendments if necessary.

Such evaluation of improvements can be performed with the help of Balanced Scorecard which is a very efficient performance evaluation and strategic management system. Balanced Scorecard will coordinate efforts of all services and business units of a hotel and align strategies of different departments, for example restaurants and hairdressers service. This is a flexible system which means changes can be easily introduced.

Business management Colleges are on the rise with most big companies and industrial giants searching for candidates who have passed out from renowned B-schools. This is more due to the fact that the Indian economy chart shows a consistent rise and is a booming industry. This has given importance and tremendous rise to the Business management courses India, as students from the business class as well as working class are opting for MBA courses.

The Business management courses that most Business management Colleges India offer are degree courses or post graduation courses. In today’s competitive field education is gaining prime importance with more emphasis on professional bachelor’s degree or master’s degree courses. And obviously keeping in pace with the present scenario, top Business Management colleges are offering the best MBA courses to nurture talent and bring out the best management students. Both the government sector and private sector are participating equally in putting in their valuable contribution to make India the business hub of the world. Many of the Business management Colleges India rank amongst the top B-schools rating of the world and attract students from all over the world. Moreover the MBA colleges in India are much cheaper compared to their counterparts in other countries. But that does not mean that the business management courses India compromise in quality in any way.

The Business management courses in India offer a curriculum that includes the latest trend and news of the Indian economy and the chance to work closely with the industry. Most business management courses involve workshops that train students to be skilled managers and perform skillfully and tactfully within highly competitive surroundings. Case studies, assignments and industrial training are part of these valuable MBA courses with main focus on the changing trends of Indian business, various methodologies, systems and procedures of working of different types of industries and the techniques by which different organizations work.

Most business management colleges impart training that is beneficial to both the student and their prospective employers, since during campus interviews the interviewer seeks candidates who are already trained managers into making. These MBA colleges such as WLCI Business School etc, offer structured programs with specialization in different fields to meet industry standards. The B-schools also offer campus placements with excellent stipends and other opportunities with both national and international brands.

The popular Business Management colleges India are a means of filling in the unemployment gap in India apart from meeting the various needs of industries and service sectors and also supporting the growth of the Indian economy. Most of the business schools of India are situated in the major cities of the country and have a uniform system of taking admission and entrance exams to get through. Apart from the regular MBA courses that are highest in demand, distance learning MBA, online MBA programs and part time executive MBA’s are also growing in popularity. Most of these B-Schools offer specialization in fields such as finance, human resource, marketing, operations, systems etc. Some institutes even offer MBA in fashion technology, hotel management, international business and management etc. The salary is very very lucrative in this field that depends both upon the institutes’ reputation and creditability as well as the individual candidate’s performance in the interview and his ability to negotiate.

Thanks to the Indian government, education in India, especially the development of top notch business schools is gaining momentum and the time is not far behind when India can boast of the world’s best Business Management Colleges.